Bingo's blood test

Hi Vally,

obviously your vet is not too concerned about these values? I am sorry I don’t understand it all, Patrice can probably give you a much better answer. ALT would be the liver so my thought would be giving milkthistle and possibly even Sam-E. Maybe Bingo is already on these? CREA is creatine and shows what is happening with the kidney? This is a big question mark, I really don’t understand this one.

For the teeth I had an idea of a home remedy that might work for a bit. Try and rub some coconut oil on them. Just take a little piece and rub it on his gums. I am sure after a few times he will love it, it tastes soooo good and it can help with infection/inflammation. if it does not help it certainly will not hurt. I know people who have used it and it really helped with all kinds of tooth problems.

Best wishes,

Brigitte

Hi Vally

Good news that those teeth aren’t too much of a problem. I think Brigitte’s idea of coconut rubbing is brilliant – got to be worth a go.

Please don’t worry too much – neither of these blood results are all that “bad” & if the rest are fairly normal, that’s great!

The low creatinine might be because of low muscle mass – do you think he’s still fairly under-muscled compared to before he got the AIHA? Highly muscled dogs have high creatinine levels naturally, so the reverse must be true. Can you increase the protein in his diet? If you can, hopefully the level might come up. Low creatinine is a sign of malnutrition in dogs without other underlying problems, but because of the AIHA treatment (the prednisone is catabolic & “eats muscle”), I personally think it’s still the drugs causing it. I know for sure that little boy of yours is certainly not malnourished!

Have a look at the AIHA term on ALT – I hope what I’ve written will help you. These drugs do have an adverse effect on the liver, especially in the long term- do you have the results of any other liver enzymes? Increasing the milk thistle (I used powder from capsules) helped Worzel’s ALT come down dramatically, but he definitely had tummy ache after his doses. I started putting in his food & he tolerated it much better. I have taken it myself & it gives me terrible heartburn on an empty stomach. I know it can cause dogs to have loose stools too.  I sympathise with Bingo not tolerating it too well, Vally – so difficult.  Maybe a liver scan would put you mind at rest if it doesn’t come down – the liver is an amazing organ, capable of regenerating & recovering from serious problems. Have a look at the bit about steroids in

https://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/clinpath/modules/chem/alt.htm

So my friend, please don’t get too stressed out over this – give that amazing boy of yours a big cuddle from his Aunty Sheena. I think he’s done brilliantly, considering how long he’s had to take the drugs.

Loads of love from Sheena, Worzel & Ollie

No worries – sounds like Bingo couldn’t care less anyway if he’s fast asleep! The other liver enzymes would be AST aspartate aminotransferase & CK creatine kinase (not creatinine). If they tested SDH Sorbitol dehydrogenase that would be good too. The link I gave explains it a bit. Have a good sleep bedside your beloved Bingo. Speak tomorrow!

Sheena & the boyz